


New Fic: Five Cases Gibbs Never Solved

by a_loquita



Category: NCIS
Genre: Angst, Gen, Gen Fic, Team
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-03
Updated: 2010-02-03
Packaged: 2017-10-24 07:52:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/260879
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_loquita/pseuds/a_loquita
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five cases he never solved, they linger on his mind still.</p>
            </blockquote>





	New Fic: Five Cases Gibbs Never Solved

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [](http://la-tante.livejournal.com/profile)[**la_tante**](http://la-tante.livejournal.com/) for her beta work, prompt by [](http://mrspollifax.livejournal.com/profile)[**mrspollifax**](http://mrspollifax.livejournal.com/)

  
1\. The one from his first year.

Gibbs still thinks about it from time to time. He even keeps a picture of the 8-year-old boy who never came home. It’s tacked up on the wall next to the tool chest in his basement.

For many years, Gibbs worried that his being so green, being a probie who’d only worked a handful of cases might have been the reason that little boy was still out there somewhere. Would he work the case differently now? Had he missed something? A few years ago Gibbs decided those questions weren’t the right ones. The right question was: would that little boy ever be forgotten? And the answer was no.

2\. The one where Ducky was right.

He was right, and Gibbs was wrong. Though it took a week to admit it and apologize. Even then, the apology was said via a bottle of scotch, but Ducky just smiled and replied, “All is forgiven, Jethro.”

Gibbs hadn’t solved the case, but thank goodness Ducky had.

3\. The one where Abby was on the scene

Not the first case she worked for NCIS, no, Abby’s forensics had put that murderer away for life.

The other first case, the case that had led Gibbs to Abby for the first time, when she had been just a frightened child and he’d been nothing more than another officer on the scene, another man in a dark suit asking questions. Her big eyes had looked up at Gibbs, begging for something, safety or security. Maybe a promise that everything would get better.

They never solved the case, but to this day Gibbs worries: which is worse? An unsolved case or a promise he couldn’t make to Abby. Especially now that she’s all grown up, and along the way she learned that the world has evil in it. Especially now that she works in law enforcement, with it comes a slightly lower life expectancy than the national average. Especially now, when he looks into Abby’s eyes sometimes and sees that little girl, the one who thought he was her hero.

4\. The one he blames on Tony.

Because Gibbs doesn’t have the heart to blame McGee, even though he was there too. It was a mix-up, a stupid mistake, a break in protocol that allowed the suspect to go free before he could be questioned. Then, predictably, the suspect fled the country, and, without a confession, they had nothing. Gibbs blamed Tony. But Tony did such a good job beating himself up that Gibbs kept quiet. He didn’t even smack Tony on the back of the head. Well, not for several days anyway.

5\. The case of women.

It is his ultimate unsolved case, a true mystery. One that Gibbs has spent years attempting to solve. It’s the mystery of how women know so much. How they read into things and how most of the time they get it right. How they find a way in, even after he’s positive no one will ever touch his heart again. And it’s not the ex-wives or ex-lovers, as some might assume, who are the most vexing to him. It’s the ones who have wormed their way in, under his skin, when he was sure his skin has become some kind of impermeable barrier.

It’s the fact that he still mourns Kate. He would circle the globe to find Ziva and bring her home again, and he’d stand in front of Abby and take a bullet. He’s not supposed to feel that way, he knows that. Because after he lost Kelly, he was sure that part of him had died as well. So, this mystery, the mystery of women continues. How exactly did they do it?  And how did they manage to heal him?


End file.
